Systems for performing financial transactions from a remote location, e.g., the home, office, or retail facility, are becoming increasingly popular. The proliferation of personal computers, and particularly in conjunction with modems, permits a consumer to effect bill paying, retail purchasing, banking, and other commercial transactions remotely, thus avoiding the need to travel to attend to routine commercial matters.
Presently known systems typically comprise a host computer located at a central data processing site, which is configured to communicate with a large number of remote personal computers (PC). When an individual desires to effect a financial transaction, for example to order merchandise and pay for the merchandise with a credit card, the user constructs a data link between his PC and the host computer via the PC's modem. Upon ordering the appropriate merchandise, the user may enter a credit card number corresponding to the account to which the merchandise is to be charged. The purchase request is then transmitted from the PC to the host computer, whereupon the transaction is verified by the host computer.
Presently known systems are limited, for example in their ability to effect the real time transfer of funds, due to various problems associated with the transmission of encrypted data. More particularly, real time transfers of funds are typically effected through the use of an automatic teller machine (ATM). In a typical ATM transaction, the user enters an account number onto a keypad or, alternatively, inserts a bank card into the ATM whereupon the account information is "read" from the magnetic strip located on the back of the bank card. Thereafter, the user enters a personal identification number (PIN) into the keypad to enable the transaction. By properly entering the PIN associated with the bank card, the fraudulent use of such cards is greatly reduced. The extension of the aforementioned ATM paradigm to home use is problematic, however, in that presently, known systems for remotely transmitting encrypted data (e.g. PINs) are unsatisfactory.
More particularly, although techniques for encrypting PINs and other confidential data and information are generally well known, current banking and other financial industry regulations are calculated to limit the extent to which confidential data may be transmitted in an non-encrypted form. In the context of a personal computer used to remotely effect a commercial transaction, it is possible to encrypt the confidential data at the PC and thereafter transmit the encrypted data to the host computer. However, presently known systems generally require that the confidential data (e.g. PIN) be entered into the computer via the keyboard associated with the PC, whereupon the PC's processor controls the encryption process. Thus, the data is essentially transmitted from the keyboard to the PC mother board over the physical wires connecting the keyboard to the PC box. Thereafter, the unencrypted data, i.e., prior to completing the encrypting process, necessarily resides on the mother board, for example prior to and during the encryption process. It is believed that sophisticated electronic "listening" devices could thus be employed to detect the confidential data between the time it is entered into the keyboard by the user and the time at which encryption is complete.
A system is thus needed which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.